IWST 2019: WSH vs HOU — Two TONs o’ Fun

[G-Fafif]

HousTON

WashingTON

In the battle to succeed BosTON



And, as has always been and always will be the case in these 2010s, not a pinstripe in sight.

[Centerfield]

Thank you for doing the Lord's work Houston. But we need one more favor...

[G-Fafif]

Astros https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/10/22/houston-astros-roberto-osuna-suspensionfront office douchery from ALCS celebration emerges on WS eve.

And in the center of the room, assistant general manager Brandon Taubman turned to a group of three female reporters, including one wearing a purple domestic-violence awareness bracelet, and yelled, half a dozen times, “Thank God we got Osuna! I'm so f------ glad we got Osuna!” The outburst was offensive and frightening enough that another Houston staffer apologized. The Astros declined to comment. They also declined to make Taubman available for an interview.

[HahnSolo]

Per Deadspin, before the Astros scooped up this baseball genius, he was "a former fantasy baseball expert and investment banker." Can't possibly imagine that guy being a dick.

[Frayed Knot]

Game 1: Cole vs Scherzer

First pitch is scheduled for 8:08

The first pitch for the remaining games is slated for 8:07, so adjust your lives accordingly.

[G-Fafif]

Couldn't not feel good for Zimmerman homering in his first WS AB.

[LWFS]

Holy hell, the kid hit that a long way.

[Frayed Knot]

Well it's not like he went opposite field or anything ... oh wait, he did!





Scherzer's not long for this game.

At this pitch count you'd want to have at least 16 outs (5.1 IP) by now. Instead he's notched just 10 outs (3.1)

[Fman99]

=G-Fafif post_id=24811 time=1571586373 user_id=55]
HousTON

WashingTON

In the battle to succeed BosTON



And, as has always been and always will be the case in these 2010s, not a pinstripe in sight.

[bmfc1]

The Astros have left a TON of runners on and Cole is mediocre.

Did I say "mediocre"? He's garbage.

[Frayed Knot]

Should be on 3rd, cousin George!!

If you're going to dance towards 1st base then you better be damn sure it's actually going out.

[LWFS]

Frayed Knot wrote: Should be on 3rd, cousin George!! If you're going to dance towards 1st base then you better be damn sure it's actually going out.

Had he done so, the Altuve fly right afterward just might have tied the game right there.

[G-Fafif]

This kind of article was inevitable.



https://www.cjr.org/first_person/washington-world-series.phphttps://www.cjr.org/first_person/washington-world-series.php

The Nationals, now of the National League, head to the World Series today. The joy is palpable, non-partisan, and has squeezed (temporarily) an ounce of optimism out of an embattled press corps. When the Nats, as they're known, secured victories earlier in the playoffs, reporters high-fived on the campaign trail; Andrea Mitchell and Judy Woodruff (my wife) tweeted excitedly; and The Atlantic's Ron Brownstein flew in from California for a game. “At a time of daily news eruptions, it's particularly a tonic for the folks working in and covering politics,” Jonathan Martin, chief political correspondent for The New York Times, says. At Nationals Park, Peter Baker, the chief Washington correspondent for the Times, takes his spot in the low section between home plate and the dugout. A section over is the oracle of baseball-loving political columnists, George Will. “There's no more unifying force in established Washington journalism than the Nats,” James Carville, the political operative and commentator, tells me. Carville, who's flying in from New Orleans for the first championship home game, on Friday, sits next to Luke Russert. A fat cat offered Russert thousands of dollars above list price for his tickets. He, of course, said no. Russert wondered aloud to his mom—Maureen Orth, a writer for Vanity Fair—who he might take to the game. She had a quick, emphatic response: “Moi.” Natsmania has affected the whole town. There are signs everywhere; customers at Starbucks are wearing Nationals hats and shirts. “It's a funny window into how Washington works,” Michael Tackett, deputy Washington bureau chief for the Associated Press and a Nats fanatic, says, of the World Series. Tickets to Game Four of the division series (when the Los Angeles Dodgers might have ended it) didn't sell out; there were some five thousand empty seats. Now, for the championship, standing-room spots are going for seven hundred dollars apiece; upper deck seats for fourteen thousand. There's a mad dash to get in. “Every fixer is making a deal,” Tackett explains, “every connection leverager.”

[Frayed Knot]

Inevitable? You don't mean to suggest that a political town has front-runners in it, do you?

At least we know that George Will actually went to baseball games prior to three weeks ago. The others mentioned I'm not so sure.



I remember years ago -- almost 25 at this point -- watching a political roundtable show and at one point the discussion took a side route into Cal Ripken's record-breaking game

which had occurred just a few days earlier and, whattaya know, EVERYONE on the panel had finagled their way into Camden Yards for that game.

[G-Fafif]

Nationals 5 Astros 4. The frontrunning just grew a tad more intense.

[Frayed Knot]

Bregman's MVP hopes are fortunate that the votes don't include post-season play because he's been a total non-factor in the Yanqui series plus Game 1 tonight: 3 for 18 coming into tonight (2 singles, 1 double) w/1 RBI

and tonight he added nothing more than a couple of key strikeouts.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Yeah he sucks. And the way the Astros screwed up this issue with their dumbass front office flunky is making me a Nats fan.

[Frayed Knot]

The other thing that stupid asst GM (whoever he is) did was to re-publicize the backstory of Osuna, only now with a national audience now paying attention.

I know I had forgotten about his previous troubles when he was with Toronto (we were so busy mocking Chapman the other day despite he maybe

being the less violent of the two closers) and now a bunch of people who never knew about them now have Osumna's history spelled out.

Nice job, Dickhead.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Frayed Knot wrote: Should be on 3rd, cousin George!! If you're going to dance towards 1st base then you better be damn sure it's actually going out.

That's exactly what I was thinking. For a long time. In the World Series, no less. How come none of the announcers bothered to point this out?

[kcmets]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=24989 time=1571808689 user_id=68]How come none of the announcers bothered to point this out?

[LWFS]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Yeah he sucks. And the way the Astros screwed up this issue with their dumbass front office flunky is making me a Nats fan.

Right? Found myself fist pumping when the Soto stuff would happen.



Finding out all sorts of weird stuff about myself, rooting-wise, in the heat of the moment this postseason. #selfdiscovery #butnotthatkind

[Frayed Knot]

How come none of the announcers bothered to point this out? Because Buck sucks a TON of dick, perhaps? I'm watching the highlights on MLB Tonight re-run and Reynolds was all over Springer. Biggest play of the game, probably cost a tie at least.

Springer actually ran harder to 1st in his previous AB HR that wound up out by the choo-choo train than he did on the one that stayed in the park.

There were all kinds of odd base-running/throwing in that 8th inning.

- Preceding the Springer AB, PH'er Tucker (on 1st) snuck in to 2nd when CF'er Robles threw behind him on a routine fly out. Not sure what Robles was thinking there, especially with

a two run lead.

- Tucker, who doesn't look to be all that fast, then decides to tag up again on the Springer ball to RCF in case it's caught ... but the only upside to that is getting to 3rd w/2-outs which

is barely an upside at all. The Nats, Robles again, then rushed the relay throw in back to the infield which went wide and had to be tracked down otherwise they might have had a shot

at Tucker trying to score

- Springer claims he couldn't have reached 3rd and didn't want to pass Tucker on the base paths which is ...umm, bullshit. If you start running up on him then just stop running. But he

clearly wasn't looking at his runner while he was bunny-hopping his way to 1st.

- Tim Kurkjian said he thought there was a "better than average" chance that GS can reach 3rd on that play which sounds about right to me. Not only was the ball in the air for a while

but then there was an odd hop and the wild relay. But he didn't hit sprint mode until the ball dropped and he was nearly at 1st base so that blew any chance.

- And then I think the following Fly to RF (assuming the old predetermined outcome thing) probably scores him if he's on 3rd and the game is tied although Eaton throws well.

[G-Fafif]

A season of watching Pete Alonso watching his 430-foot home runs leave the ballpark without doubt had nudged my “RUN TO FIRST BASE FIRST!” instinct incrementally to “well, maybe these guys know in their bones when it's going out,” but then something like Springer being a spectator happens in the frigging World Series and it's a mystery to me that these guys don't run first, watch the replay later.



Rickey Henderson, a pioneer in the art form, had a situation like that in 1999, landing on second instead of on third (and landing on first instead of second in 2000 as prelude to his release). Hell, I've never understood why Todd Pratt stopped at first to see if Steve Finley caught his NLDS-winning home run, never considering simply running to second in case the ball ticked off Finley's glove and stayed in play.

[G-Fafif]

Juan Soto has fans back home.

[MFS62]

Otro cerveza, por favor.

Later

[batmagadanleadoff]

Frayed Knot wrote: =kcmets post_id=24992 time=1571829312 user_id=53] =batmagadanleadoff post_id=24989 time=1571808689 user_id=68]How come none of the announcers bothered to point this out?

Because Buck sucks a TON of dick, perhaps?



I'm watching the highlights on MLB Tonight re-run and Reynolds was all

over Springer. Biggest play of the game, probably cost a tie at least.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Frayed Knot wrote: =kcmets post_id=24992 time=1571829312 user_id=53] =batmagadanleadoff post_id=24989 time=1571808689 user_id=68]How come none of the announcers bothered to point this out? Because Buck sucks a TON of dick, perhaps? I'm watching the highlights on MLB Tonight re-run and Reynolds was all over Springer. Biggest play of the game, probably cost a tie at least.

- Springer claims he couldn't have reached 3rd and didn't want to pass Tucker on the base paths which is ...umm, bullshit. If you start running up on him then just stop running. But he

clearly wasn't looking at his runner while he was bunny-hopping his way to 1st.

[Centerfield]

I doubt GKR lets them off the hook. Especially Keith. National broadcasts. What are you going to do?



And yea, absolutely should have been running, and he likely would have made it to third. He side skipped the entire way to first and made second without a throw.

[bmfc1]

I missed the play you're talking about but just watched it and you're right. There is no question that Springer screwed up. After one-game, HOU is giving me a STL vibe.

[Frayed Knot]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=25016 time=1571843025 user_id=68]
Could you imagine an NFL wide receiver breaking out into his choreographed touchdown celebration 15 yards before he reaches the end zone?